The inspirations and origins for our stories.

It came from Michael Gardner

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Michael Gardner’s story “Infinite Possibilities” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 30 September 2022. Before I wrote “Infinite Possibilities”, I’d read a horror short story that told its tale by describing a series of strange videos. While horror involving videos or photos is not new, I thought the way the story had been done was quite fresh. It was set up as a weird, ambiguous mystery. That got me thinking of my own mystery video, …

It came from Elizabeth Rankin

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Elizabeth Rankin’s story “Portals and Other Lost Things” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 23 September 2022. “Portals and Other Lost Things” started from a writing prompt during “Story a Day May” in 2020, although I can’t remember the original prompt. Like so many people, I was feeling stuck inside and longing to visit other places, hoping they’d still be around after the pandemic. I was also trying out new hobbies, although knitting (as featured …

It came from Karl El-Koura

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Karl El-Koura’s story “Her Last Will” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 16 September 2022. Hello, my name is Karl El-Koura, and I’m an introvert. Do they have support groups for introverts, or does no one show up? I suspect most writers are on the introversion end of the spectrum. Who else would voluntarily lock themselves up alone in a room for hours on end? Many of my stories, like “Her Last Will”, turn out …

It came from Mande Matthews

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Mande Matthews’s story “For the Love of Wild Things” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 9 September 2022. The first inkling: I have long been fascinated with permaculture and food forestry, though, I fear, my thumb is blacker than night. I read once that fairies will help you in your garden, though none have bestowed their blessings on mine. Perhaps they see me as the plant murderess that I am. I’m not giving up, though, …

It came from B. Morris Allen

B. Morris Allen’s story “To the Wild Sea” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 2 September 2022.

September 2022

I woke up one morning with the whole central poem in my head, drawn from a dream I couldn’t remember, except that it had something to do with telepathy. Now, I recognize that I’m not a great poet, but this poem was so clear in my head that I wanted to do something with it, and I formed the story around it. Some readers have found the ending too subtle (or too opaque), but I’d note note that the world it takes place on is all about assimilation. Sarosh’s husband may not quite as completely vanished as it seems. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to notice.

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It came from Hope Davies

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Hope Davies’s story “Frozen in Glass” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 26 August 2022. I first started thinking about writing a story about memory when I caught myself experiencing the phenomenon of false recollection. Someone was telling me about a picture that they’d previously shown me and, with a little prompting, I found that yes, I did remember what it looked like. Moments later, she pulled up a photograph on her phone of the …